


Lingering Scent

by clubstocrews23



Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-07 07:06:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18615613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clubstocrews23/pseuds/clubstocrews23
Summary: Is it time to wash the pillowcase David used when they spent the night together?





	Lingering Scent

**Author's Note:**

> Most of these oneshots aren't edited very much because I write them on request (you can request anything you want to see from most SKAM ships @if-you-built-yourself-a-myth on Tumblr), so please be lenient with me if you notice any typos or the story moves a little quickly. Thank you for all of your comments; they mean a lot to me.

Matteo doesn’t  _want_  to wash the pillowcase. Even after two weeks, it still smells like David. Every time he picks it up he’s taken back to the two of them in bed together on Saturday afternoon, when time stopped and nothing mattered beyond the realm of his bedroom. Washing it feels like sacrilege. Like a betrayal. Washing it means giving up on David altogether. 

As the day comes to a close, though, he knows it’s time to clean it off and start over. It was Hans’ advice, the guru. At this point, it’s unlikely he’s going to get another text, which means it’s time to start forgetting about what can’t be and start focusing on the other meaningful relationships in his life. He started that process by coming out to Jonas. The pillowcase is step two.

That said, if someone’s going to destroy his last happy memory of his first love, it won’t be him. He removes the case from the pillow, piles a couple t-shirts on top of it in a plastic bag, and heads out of his room. He passes Mia in the hallway and grabs her arm so she stops short.

“Are you going to the laundromat sometime soon?”

“Why? she asks.

“I just have some things to wash, but not a lot, and I don’t want to make the trip for a couple t-shirts.” He doesn’t want to be the one to pump soap onto his happiest memory to date.

“I don’t have time,” Mia says. “Alex is coming over, and then Hanna later. You can take everything there by yourself.”

“Do you think Hans will go?”

“When have you seen Hans take his own laundry anywhere?”

“Never,” Matteo acknowledges.

“So you knew the answer all along.”

“I guess.”

She studies his face for a moment. It’s a little bit awkward, considering they live together and this conversation is the first time he’s said more than a sentence to her directly. Once he sorts through everything else going on inside his head, maybe he’ll sit down and have an honest-to-goodness get-to-know-you session with her over dinner or something. That could be nice.

“Is everything alright?” she asks. 

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

“Because…” Mia tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and looks at the ground. “Hanna’s a bit worried about you. We want to make sure you’re okay.”

Matteo smiles at her. “When did we go from laundry to feelings?”

She reddens a bit. “Sorry.”

He already knows Hanna thinks about him, but it’s good to hear from someone else’s mouth. He misses seeing her. They used to hang out together all the time, and now they don’t. That’s another thing that he can fix once he works through his current situation. And if Hanna is concerned enough to tell Mia… he must have some great friends out there, if they care about his wellbeing so much that they let it leak into their other friendships. 

“I’m fine,” he says. “Tell Hanna she doesn’t need to worry.”

“Oh, um, okay.”

Mia disappears into her room once more. 

The scent is strong enough that Matteo can smell it, even beneath the t-shirts and through the bag. Hans can probably smell it, too, as Matteo walks into the kitchen to greet him. 

“Are you going to the laundromat?” Matteo asks.

Hans doesn’t bother to answer that question. “You smell nice.” 

“Not me.” Matteo lifts the bag. “Just something I have to wash.”

“Hm.” 

Hans takes the plastic bag from Matteo’s hand, sifting through the contents. Matteo prays he won’t notice that two of the shirts inside for filler are completely clean, even though Matteo normally wears a shirt three or four times before deciding to wash it.

He doesn’t notice.

“Did you get a new cologne or something?”

“No,” says Matteo. “It’s not mine.” 

“Smells kind of like cinnamon. Whose is it?”

Cinnamon? No, Matteo would recognize the smell of cinnamon! And what would make David smell like cinnamon? Matteo looks at the counter, at what Hans is preparing, and recognizes the batter for French Toast. Hans doesn’t smell David on the pillowcase, he smells the ingredients of the dish he’s trying to make all over his own fingers. 

“Jonas’s,” Matteo answers. 

“You tell Jonas he smells very good.”

“Yeah, I will.” Matteo pauses. “Are you going to the laundromat?”

Hans shakes his head. “Why would I have the need?”

“You have clothes.”

“I’m making French Toast right now, though.”

Matteo lets out a sigh. “That’s exactly what Mia told me you would say.” He grabs a slice of bread from the package next to Hans’ egg mixture. French Toast isn’t his cup of tea, but nothing hits the spot like plain bread.

“How did Mia know I was making French Toast?”

“She didn’t, she just said you’d make some excuse.”

Hans feigns offense. “She knows nothing about me.” He begins to dunk the bread in the eggs and slaps the pieces one by one into the pan. Matteo heads to remove his coat from the hook near the doorway– he has to do everything by himself in this goshdarn house– stopping short when Hans addresses him again. “But look, if I were you, I’d wash it all later when Mia goes. If your laundry smells good, it shouldn’t be a problem yet.”

 _If it smells good, it shouldn’t not a problem yet_. Damnit, Hans is right! He draws his hand away from the coat, causing it to crumple to the floor instead. The scent’s still on the pillowcase, so how the fuck is it too late to wait for some kind of Hail Mary pass? There’s still the chance that David will come back to him. Alex and Mia had a large fight a few weeks ago, and Alex returned afterward to make things right with Mia. There’s a chance David will do the same.

Instead of getting his coat to take everything to be washed, he heads back into his room and empties the contents of the bag on his bed. Now that the shirts have been in the same space as the pillowcase for a while, they all smell faintly of David. He takes his pillow, pulls the case back on, lays down in the bed, and hugs it in his arms. The guru has done it again. Is he going to have to call Hans that now?

A knock sounds on the door. “Matteo?”

“Yeah?”

“Alex isn’t coming over. I can take your shirts if you want.”

It hits him that he should maybe ask her how things are going with Alex, but neither one of them wants to talk about that when they haven’t ever  _talked_  at all before. 

“It’s okay!” he yells. “I actually don’t think they need washed yet.”

“Okay.”


End file.
